Past Tense
by GeekyContradiction
Summary: He was her past but the boy that loved her enough to lose all of his pride to get down on one knee, the one who had looked at her like she was crazy but had told her everything that she needed to hear, the boy who said, "I do," was her future. Suggested Past Thaluke with Established Thalico. Dedicated to sarahthewise.


**Disclaimer: I am neither Rick Riordan nor Taylor Swift, so…yeah.**

**Dedication: sarahthewise (For the prompt)**

Thalia couldn't deny, no matter how hard she had tried, that she had feelings for him at one point in her life. She was only positive about that because she had spent so much time trying to pin it on some freak moment only to give up, something that she never did. But then again, he was one of the few exceptions, one of the few complications in her life. She had to give him credit though, because even as an exception, it was and is incredibly hard to turn her rock solid heart into something capable of strong emotions, like love. She had accepted that she had loved him long ago, but whether that love had been sisterly or romantically, she was sure she would never know. It was a good thing that she wasn't Annabeth, or she would have torn herself apart not being able to figure it out.

Her life with him had been dangerous and addictive, with the types of chases that you only see in movies and more adrenalin than had been safe for anyone at her age. When he found her, she had just run from her alcoholic mother and had still been so confused and distressed that her little brother had simply disappeared. She had been looking for a dependable male figure in her life and he just happened to be there so conveniently. Of course, later she found out that he wasn't the dependable strong and constant boy that she had made him out to be, but the sting had worn of by then. Up until that point, she hadn't know that she was capable of so much emotion and it stands to this day that very few can evoke them, but she didn't have the sense to be afraid of her new weakness. But as all people do, she grew up, despite her numerous attempts to prevent it. And as she grew and developed the sense that she had previously lacked, she began to see him as a symbol of her childhood, an immature and fleeting crush.

When she had joined the hunters, she had felt betrayed and hurt beyond belief, but she it was during that time period when she developed the most, mentally. With those developments, she found the strength to forgive him and move on. In fact, it was when she realized that she never would have quit the hunters for him, had he turned back around, that she felt confident that she would be fine. Thalia would always miss him and she knew that, but her feelings had grown as well, into the sisterly feelings that she had always been intended to feel. And after Percy saved the world, she decided that she could quit the hunters because the prophecy was taken care of and removed from her shoulders. It was shortly after his disappearance that she knew that she would only leave once she found a boy worth leaving for. So, she did.

Quite often, she found herself laughing at the sheer differences between the boys that had stolen her heart. While Luke had been a blonde, blue-eyed Ken doll, (She also saw the irony in that.) the boy she ended up quitting the hunt for had extremely dark hair and brown eyes that reminded her of an abyss. Besides their physical differences, she could see how the latter was more complimentary in temperament as well. He had been a perfect example of a son of Hermes, sly and playful, while the Italian had a dark sense of humor to match her own and could understand her predicament more, being put under the same pressures as a child of the Big Three. Honestly, it was a miracle for everyone else when she wasn't around him considering the time they spent together. She and Nico had spent a considerable amount of time joking about their step-mothers alone and she had to admit that it felt amazing to let loose and release all of her frustration regarding Hera. He had even helped her deal with Luke much in the way she helped him with Bianca.

But even with him physically gone, his shadow still remained in the back of her mind as if she still needed to do one last thing to confirm that she made the right choice. As it turned out, her acceptance came in a small hollowed out circle with amethysts and diamonds. She had originally told him that she needed some time to think and it was those final moments spent turning it over in her mind, that pushed her over. It wasn't ever a question of whether she loved Nico enough, but rather her doubting whether she was finally ready. In the end, she had accepted with one final thought. She had loved the son of Hermes but the key word in that statement was the, "was," noting past tense. He was her past but the boy that loved her enough to lose all of his pride to get down on one knee, the one who had looked at her like she was crazy but had told her everything that she needed to hear, the boy who said, "I do," was her future.

__**Author's Note**

**I got this idea from a prompt given to me by sarahthewise. This isn't what she asked for and I fully intend on writing one using her**** guidelines as well but I wrote this and feel pretty satisfied with it, so I'm posting it.**

**Sarah (Is it okay if I call you Sarah?)-I will post your oneshot, but I wrote this and then realized that you wanted the opposite, so I'm just dedicating both to you because they were sprouted from your prompt. I should have yours up later!**

**I would just like to notify everyone that I'm taking one-shot ideas, and if you want details, read the Author's note in The Universally Unanswered Rhetorical Question.**


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